First-time buyers need €42,000 in own cash to have a chance at buying a home

In recent months, first-time buyers had to put an average of 42,000 euros of their own money down to buy a house. For those moving from one owner-occupied home to another, it was 35,000 euros, NU.nl reports based on figures from the Hypotheek Data Netwerk (HDN), which has insight into the vast majority of mortgage flows.

It is increasingly only first-time buyers with higher incomes that still have a chance to buy a home on the overheated housing market. “The growth in the number of mortgage applications among first-time buyers is mainly in the higher segment,” HDN said.

In total, over 116,000 mortgages were applied for in the third quarter of this year. “That is an increase of 22.5 percent compared to a year ago,” HDN said.

75,000 applications were mortgages to buy a house. The rest involved refinancing or additional financing. The average mortgage amount in the third quarter was 361,785 euros, 7 percent higher than a year earlier.

“Almost 32,000 applications were for a private increase or a second mortgage, with an average of 81,000 euros in mortgage requested,” HDN said. That amount shot up by 12 percent in one year. These mortgages are mainly used to renovate or make a home more sustainable.